This book will confirm or restore your faith in the gospel records. Apr 18, 2016 john james blunt, undesigned coincidences in the writings of both the old and new testament, new york, 1847. Undesigned coincidences evidence for the historicity of the. Blunt, john james the library of historical apologetics. However, the evidence of large numbers of these coincidences is a powerful witness to the reliability of the bible. Undesigned coincidences in the writings both of the old and new testament.
Undesigned coincidences in the gospels part 1 have you ever read the four gospels straight through. Blunts undesigned scriptural coincidences 9781597812740 by eric lounsbery. Mcgrews library of historical apologetics undesigned coincidences 1, 2 i added some talks he has given since then, and linked to some of his newer resources, like this video here is the full series of talks at calvary bible church, with powerpoint and notes. In her recent book, hidden in plain view, philosopher and christian apologist lydia mcgrew seeks to breathe new life into an old defense of the historical reliability of the new testament. Blunts undesigned scriptural coincidences by lounsbery, eric isbn. The idea of undesigned coincidences is a method of approaching this problem.
Different writers, sometimes writing years apart, record incidents which tie up and could not have been contrived. Class handout i recommend opening the audio and using the powerpoint slideshow as you listen andor the handout. Undesigned coincidences, taken cumulatively, suggest that the accounts of events in the gospels and acts have the ring of truth. The reading the bible effectively seminars also contain references to many bible echoes.
The cool thing about old books is that they are now public domain, which translates to free for you and me. The language is a bit archaic but the information is fascinating. Undesigned coincidences and coherence for an hypothesis lydia mcgrew 7182018 this is an accepted author manuscript version archived at my personal website after acceptance per authors agreement with erkenntnis. Aug 10, 2017 the undesigned coincidences approach builds a cumulative case for the accuracy of the new testament histories. I have written more extensively on how these can be used as an argument for the historicity of the gospels. Undesigned coincidences in the gospels is an argument that was wellknown in the nineteenth century but has, for no really clear reason, simply been forgotten as time has gone on. John murray, 1869, inspired by paley, applies the method of undesigned coincidences to both the old and the new testaments and then extends it to the coincidences between the new testament documents and the works of the jewish historian josephus. Oct 19, 2011 an undesigned coincidence occurs when one account of an event leaves out a bit of information that doesnt affect the overall picture, but a different account indirectly supplies the missing.
The ursource theory of undesigned coincidences whats. Undesigned coincidences and historical reliability psephizo. The argument from undesigned coincidences is one of the forgotten arguments for christianity. It has seen a very recent resurgence through the work of some christian apologists, such as the philosopher timothy mcgrew. With an appendix, containing undesigned coincidences between the gospels and acts, and josephus by conrad, joseph and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Undesigned coincidences writings old new testament. When the article is published i will make a doi number. The method employed by blunt to prove the veracity of the scriptures is. Tim mcgrew delivered a sermon titled, the ring of truth at first baptist, keener, lousiana. You begin reading and as youre going through matthew, youre like, well thats interesting, confirms everything i heard in church, but then you get to mark and it starts to confirm a lot of what you read from matthew. Since the argument from undesigned coincidences has been so neglected, there isnt a scholarly literature out there responding to it, and i hesitate to make any strong predictions as to whether or not some type of ursource or urtext theory will prove to be popular among scholars who are dubious about the argument. Timothy mcgrew, undesigned coincidences this talk can be accessed free of charge here. When a single undesigned coincidence is seen for the first time it often produces a feeling of anticlimax.
Herods private conversations in this article, well consider the undesigned coincidence in matthew 14. An undesigned coincidence occurs where there are tiny details in an account. Blunts undesigned coincidences online biblical studies. This video is the product of a recent collaboration between me and tim mcgrew the distinguished philosopher from western michigan university. This is the seventh installment in our series on undesigned coincidences in the gospels, based on a presentation by dr. Abiathar absalom accordingly acts ahab ahaz amaziah amongst appears argument assyrian athaliah baal babylon bethany book of chronicles book of kings book of samuel brethren called canaan capernaum centurion chapter christ chron.
A homicide detective investigates the claims of the gospels. Undesigned coincidences from the library of historic. It really makes scripture come alive and proves beyond a doubt, the veracity of the bible. Blunts undesigned scriptural coincidences lounsbery, eric on. On the nature of this argument i shall not much enlarge, but refer my readers for a general view of it to the short dissertation prefixed to the hor. Start by marking undesigned coincidences in the writings both of the old and new testaments, an argument of their veracity. To decide whether the bible is a revelation from god, which would make it an important message for mankind, it is important to see whether the words in it are accurate. The coincidence exists if the details fit together to provide an additional picture which is not part of the main narrative.
The two most important books on undesigned coincidences bound together in a single volume. In this article, we consider a pair of undesigned coincidences in luke and john. The veracity of the historical books of the old testament. That old argument focuses on the undesigned coincidences found within the text of the gospels and the book of acts as well as the pauline epistles. The undesigned coincidences approach builds a cumulative case for the accuracy of the new testament histories. With an appendix containing undesigned coincidences between the gospels and acts, and josephus by blunt, john j. Undesigned coincidences evidence for the historicity of. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Undesigned coincidences in the gospels and acts revives an argument for the historical reliability of the new testament that has been largely neglected for more than a hundred years. These details are irrelevant to the main story, but they match other insignificant details elsewhere to provide a picture which is unconnected to the main account or accounts in which the details are found. Blunts undesigned coincidences and paleys horae paulinae 1874.
A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also by lydia mcgrew as we have discussed several times in threads here at w4, the infancy narratives in luke and matthew come in for a lot of unnecessary doubt from new testament scholars. This book is a reprint of john blunts apologetic masterpiece, undesigned scriptural coincidences, first published in the mid 1800s. Author eric lounsbery christian publisher xulon press. Dr tim mcgrew of the library of historical apologetics just posted a fascinating document in a private facebook group of which i am a part.
Undesigned coincidences in the gospels and acts kindle edition by mcgrew, lydia, keener, craig. You may like to think of giving them a copy as a present or prize. Undesigned coincidences im going to try my best to host a database of undesigned coincidences here. Undesigned coincidences in the writings both of the old and. Undesigned coincidences in the old testament and new. Old testament and new testament, an argument of their veracity author. Undesigned scriptural coincidences an undesigned coincidence is an occasion where several independent narratives contain insignificant details which can be compared with one another. Tim mcgrew in 2011 posted on april 10, 20 by maryann i just updated two previous blog posts written in 2011 on dr. Blunts scriptural coincidences gospels and acts in epub.
It is a cumulative case argument that the gospels reflect, to an important extent, independent knowledge of actual events. Defending the accuracy of scripture, one coincidence at a. Blunts scriptural coincidences gospels and acts in. An undesigned coincidence happens when one part of the bible is missing a detail that makes us ask a question, and another part of the bible written by another writer, or a text external to the bible, without collusion, supplies that missing detail and answers our question. Undesigned coincidences in the writings both of the old. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading hidden in plain view. Blunts undesigned scriptural coincidences 9781597812757 by eric lounsbery. The coincidence exists if the details fit together to provide an additional picture which.
Blunts undesigned scriptural coincidences paperback june 25, 2005. Nov 03, 2015 this important work brings modern scholarship to the argument from undesigned coincidences and does so in a way that is helpful to scholars yet accessible to everyone. Blunts undesigned coincidences, available from the christadelphian office. Suppose that one were to listen to a court case, or one were to work through historical documents to gain a picture of what went on in some earlier incident. An undesigned coincidence occurs when one account of an event leaves out a bit of information that doesnt affect the overall picture, but a different. Suppose that one were to listen to a court case, or one were to work through historical documents to.
How undesigned coincidences support the gospels reliability. When i first read through the gospels forensically, comparing those places where two or more gospels writers were describing the same event, i was immediately struck by. Here is the recording of a presentation i delivered on saturday to my apologetics academy webinar class. This book is a must for anyone looking for irrefutable evidence of the truth of the scriptures. Edmund bennett, the four gospels from a lawyers standpoint, new york, 1893. His chief book was undesigned coincidences in the writings both of the old and new testaments 1833. Simply put, they are incidental details that confirm historical details of stories across reports. This is important to me because im passing the pink copy down to a. Thankfully, i found a pdf copy the eighth edition online will the missing material and the original indices. Mar 31, 2017 undesigned coincidences, taken cumulatively, suggest that the accounts of events in the gospels and acts have the ring of truth. An argument of their veracity here is the recording of a presentation i delivered on saturday to my apologetics academy webinar class. It is my intention to argue in the following pages the veracity of the books of scripture, from the instances they contain of coincidence without design, in their several parts. It is the most exciting extrabiblical text i have ever read.
Mar 07, 2016 blunt described the phenomenon as a series of undesigned coincidences and identified over forty locations in the new testament where this feature of unintentional eyewitness support could be seen on the pages of scripture. This is the fourth installment in our series on undesigned coincidences in the gospels, based on a presentation by dr. Blunts classic work undesigned coincidences in the writings of the old and new testament, an argument of their veracity is now available online in pdf. As the labels suggest, the former concerns details which are filled in by other biblical i. Apr 10, 20 undesigned coincidences resurrected by dr. Undesigned coincidences in the gospels part 1 red door. Perhaps individual examples could be brushed aside as coincidences. Undesigned coincidences mp3 audio 45 minutes powerpoint slideshow. In the modern era, skeptical bible critics have challenged the historical reliability of the first five books of the new testament. Tim reads lots of old books and this video reflects one in particular from 1869 by john james blunt called undesigned coincidences. I just updated two previous blog posts written in 2011 on dr. Some of his writings, among them the history of the christian church during the first three centuries and the lectures on the right use of the early fathers, were published posthumously. Undesigned coincidences and historical reliability. This is because the details are always insignificant and the matter of the coincidence is often minor.
Undesigned coincidences in the writings of the old and new testament, an argument of their veracity. There is too much unintentional agreement between them for this to be so. For an introduction to undesigned coincidences and this series, go here. Jul 29, 2016 undesigned coincidences in the gospels part 1 have you ever read the four gospels straight through.
Undesigned coincidences in the writings both of the old and new testaments, an argument of their veracity. Undesigned coincidences are where writers tell the same account, but from a different viewpoint. Blunts scriptural coincidences gospels and acts about this book. It was delivered in a heartfelt fashion and meant to confound those who do not know christ by presenting evidence of the undesigned coincidences in scripture, based on an old book that mcgrew had been reading recently. An undesigned coincidence is an apparently casual, yet puzzlelike fit between two or more texts, and its best explanation is that the authors knew the truth about the.
Undesigned coincidences in the gospels part 1 red door church. The core of the argument is an investigation of the bible. I will upload most of the coincidences from the classic sources paley, blunt, et al. The bible is full of apparent coincidences, but the more of them you examine, the more you realise they are not accidental. I am reading this book right now undesigned scriptural coincidences, by j. John james blunt, undesigned coincidences in the writings of both the old and new testament, new york, 1847. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Tim mcgrew lectures on undesigned coincidences in the. Undesigned coincidences writings old new testament argument.